How that surprise cameo in the first episode of Stranger Things 3 came together

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the first episode of Stranger Things season 3, “Suzie, Do You Copy?”

It’s been a rough few years for Stranger Things’ Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder). From battling interdimensional monsters to dealing with some really sad bangs, the single mom has had few ups and way more downs.

Her most heartbreaking moment had to be when her boyfriend Bob (Sean Astin) was killed by a Demogorgon at the end of season 2.

It makes sense, then, that Joyce still isn’t really over the loss. In an early moment in the first episode of season 3, we see her try to relive her nights with Bob at home, watching Cheers and cuddling. For a brief scene, the series flashes back to show one of those happy moments for the couple.

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Astin (The Goonies) actually returned to the Atlanta set to shoot that brief cameo for ST3. “Sean was really great and gracious,” co-creator Matt Duffer tells EW. “He flew in for one day to shoot that scene with Winona. We had talked about, like, we can just flash back to them dancing or whatever, but we really thought it would hit a little bit harder if it was a new moment between the two of them. That was hard, too, just having Sean back for one day. Winona and Sean are especially close. It just made everybody miss him that much more.”